The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c19.s5.1

v1.c19.s5.1

The king of Avanti in the Buddha's time was Pajjota the Fierce, who reigned at the capital Ujjenī. There is a legend about him which shows that he and his neighbour king Udena of Kosambī were believed to have been contemporaries, connected by marriage, and engaged in war⁵. The boundary is not given, but a commentary mentions incidentally that the two capitals were in round numbers fifty yojanas, about four hundred miles, apart. We have seen that when the Nikāyas were composed Avanti was considered to have been one of the important kingdoms of India before the Buddha's time⁶. Shortly after the Buddha's death Ajātasattu is said to have been fortifying his capital, Rājagaha, in anticipation of an attack by Pajjota of Avanti⁷. The king of the Sūrasenas, at Madhura, in the Buddha's time, was called Avantiputto; and was therefore almost certainly the son of a princess of Avanti⁸. The Lalita-vistara gives the personal name of the king of Madhura in the year of the Buddha’s birth as Subāhu¹, and this may be the same person.